Tag Archives: time

For sure, just like me, you have those days that you just get reminded of how “so single” you are. You know, those days that you need to do a week of grocery and ended up buying just for two days because you realize no one is going to help you carry your stuff. Or that day when you want to just go out and have a nice, relaxing dinner and all your friends just could not go out with you. Or probably that day when you can’t stay late night at a friend’s party because you don’t feel safe to walk by yourself when you go home. These are the kind of days that you wish you have that constant person who will always be there for you. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Being single, it’s normal to desire to be with someone.

However, you don’t have to sulk about it. As for me, those are just my passing moments. Those moments are great reminders as we are so used to being on our own and being independent that at times we forget we need other people.

As those are passing moments, we have better days to enjoy the life of being single. I believe one of the precious things that we single should really be grateful of is that we have all the TIME in the world. The BIG QUESTION is, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR TIME?

If you look back to the time that you started working up to now, how can you describe the quality of your life? Has it been better? Or, you feel like nothing has changed at all? It doesn’t matter how many years ago that was. Two years, five years, or ten years. Question is, did it change a bit? Did it get better a bit? Realistically, a year can pass by so fast and you felt like nothing has really happened in your life. Or, so many things happened in your life that it went by so fast.

As you think about your life today, you might want to ask yourself how much you valued the time that you have? Do you realize how blessed you are that you don’t need to ask permission from anyone on how you can use your time? If you feel like you haven’t really used your time so well for the past years, it’s never too late. Start setting goals for yourself on how you could improve in using your precious time.

Start with what do you want to do with your week. Of course, you go to work in your regular office hours. And you have to make sure you are finding ways to grow at your workplace. Learn new things each day. Always give your best regardless of circumstance. It’s the attitude, my friend.

After work, how do you want to spend the rest of the day? Have a good rest? Probably do exercise – go to the gym or go for a run or play a sport? Or, meet a friend you haven’t seen for a while? Or, read a good book. Do online classes. Or, cooking lessons. Do volunteer work.

How about your weekends? How does it look like? I hope you don’t spend the whole day just watching t.v. series or doing movie marathon. It’s okay to do it sometimes especially after a very tiring week but just don’t do it every weekend. Just imagine how many weekends you’ve wasted in your one year. Do something productive on your weekend that helps you grow as a person. Be involved in a church or community. Travel with friends and enjoy culture. Pursue a hobby that you can be passionate about – gardening, photography or anything that could also inspire other people.

Don’t waste time, my friend. Appreciate the time that you have right now. Imagine how much you can accomplish. And don’t be greedy with your time as well. Make time for people especially if there is a need. Remember, it’s not about how many things you have done with your time or how many places you have traveled or how many classes you have taken or how many people you have met, it is how much you have grown and improved as a person and how much you have blessed other people. Those are the defining moments of a time well-spent.

Be a good steward of your time. Remember, when you’re done being single, your time is not your own anymore.

Have you ever asked God why He allows you to meet different strangers at certain points in your life? Do you think God has a reason for every stranger that you cross path with?

Isn’t it amazing how God connects us with different people not just to those within our reach but even to those who are oceans apart from us? I never thought how technology could make it possible.

I believe that God puts people in our lives for a reason, even strangers that we get to talk for two minutes or less. We may not know what that reason is, but for sure, God makes it happen as part of His great plan in each of our lives.

When opportunity comes that strangers become strangers no more, it’s amazing when you see how relationships develop from a mere exchange of hello. Question is – How much of our time right now are we giving to invest in building genuine relationships?

And, I’m throwing that question to all single women out there. As you wait for that person that God has set for you, have you been spending your time meeting different people and really building genuine friendship? How have you been intentional in meeting people? Or, have you been totally ignoring strangers?

Since I moved here May of last year, I’m just amazed how God allowed me to meet people of different backgrounds. There are people that I only get to see once a week but as you start sharing a bit of your life to them and so do they, it’s amazing how that once a week encounters grow into friendships.

As single, one of the many ways that we can maximize our time is to be part of a community. It could be a way to meet the person that God has prepared for you. 😉 Though of course, that is just a bonus if ever that happens. It’s really more of learning how to be selfless as we share our time to people who needs it.

So when you meet a stranger today and God touches your heart to give a little bit of your time, go ahead and do it. You’ll never know how that encounter would turn out into something beautiful.

“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:1-2

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Photo below: This is with my friend, Anni at Intramuros. I met her at a Bible class in a church I attended before here in Canada. After the Bible class, we didn’t see each other anymore and God allowed us to meet again while we were volunteering at the church cafeteria. She is a perfect example of a person who invested her time to a stranger like me (stranger in the country to be exact). And since then, we’ve become good friends. God has used her so much to bless me especially when I moved here as immigrant.

Every third week of January, the congregation (Christ’s Commission Fellowship) holds a leadership conference for all leaders of the church – these are not just the pastors, elders, ministry heads but also small group leaders as well as those who want to start their own small groups.

Last January 24-25, it was a privilege to be able to participate in the leadership conference entitled, “All HIS”. This is also the theme of the church for the year reminding us that everything we have belongs to God and we must be good stewards of what He has entrusted to us.

There were so many good things to take in and apply during the conference and I want to share some of the points which really spoke to me.

Our unbelief limits God to accomplish things through us because we are in partnership with Him.

Leave your goals, ambitions, dreams in that workplace for God to be able to use you. (Because of our own personal dreams, we do things for ourselves only that we hinder God to use us where He has placed us.)

There’s a reality that we “stereotype” people whom we can share the gospel with. (We think that there are people who are gospel-ready and there are those who are not. When the truth is, everyone should come to know Jesus.)

Organize your finances: 1) Get out of debt 2)Don’t manipulate (how much you need) 3)Give

Tithing is not giving; it is returning what belongs to God in the first place. (In the Bible, “give” tithe was never used. It’s always been using the word “bring”.)

Since I started working, I felt I’ve become an expert of multitasking. I’m always in a hurry to complete two to three tasks at the same time. I felt like I’m always running out of time.

And as I did this, it somehow influenced even my day to day non-work tasks. I noticed that when I walk with people, I always go ahead of them. When I do my chores at home, I start thinking what to do next when I’m still finishing something. And I noticed, when I do things, I’m always in a fast-paced like I’m being timed.

And now that I’m currently out of work, I still feel like I don’t have enough time to do so many things when I have all the time right now. I want to complete things immediately. I want to accomplish a lot within a week. I want rapid progress in my goals.

No wonder God has been teaching me big time on waiting. I want everything to happen in an instant while God is taking His time in slowing things for me. What can I do?

I made a sort of commitment to myself that while I’m waiting on God for His direction for me, I will learn to slow down on everything. I will do chores in a normal pace, thus, avoiding dropping or breaking things. I will plan out tasks weekly and not kill myself to do all in one day. I will take time to rest, walk slowly, observe things. I read this somewhere, “Take a pause and smell the waffle.”

I’m excited on how God will change me to be more patient and more trusting.

As I shared in my previous blogs, I was working on my PR application for Canada with all the requirements and stuff.

I’m happy to say that I made it to the required score for my IELTS exam! Praise God for that! Just a little story about it – I was really nervous that I would fail especially my listening exam. It’s really where I was struggling the most when I was doing my self reviews. I was more confident with my writing and speaking since I believe they were my strengths. And you know what, I got the lowest in my writing. I was actually expecting it because I really got stuck in my writing when I can’t even properly elaborate my thoughts about a topic that I totally have no idea! I realized how difficult to write about something you really don’t know anything about. But as always, God is really good. I needed a 6 for my writing and He gave me a 6! 🙂 That was really close. I placed everything in God’s hands after I took the exam.

I already submitted my PR application. It was really a challenging process with all the documents and requirements that I need to procure. Not to forget the very tedious details that I should follow in the instruction kit. But really really helpful. After a month of submitting my application, I got my application number. Yay! 🙂

I’ve been expecting their next updates after 2 months I got my application number but I haven’t heard still. There has been an ongoing strike in the immigration offices which could possibly cause the delays. But then, I told myself, God’s timetable is always perfect. His timing is always right. While I’m waiting for the next update, I still have enough time to prepare for what’s to come. And if this is really what God would want me to have, it will happen.

I was reminded by a status post in FB and I really agree, indeed, God’s delays are not God’s denials. He holds what lies ahead. He knows what’s best. As long as we are aligned to His will, we will learn to wait by faith.

As I try to think why I enjoy trips and travels, I realized that since when I was young and my family still lived in Cebu, my parents would take us to different trips. We would go to Bacolod and visit our relatives through bus and ferry. We would go to Cebu City with our neighbors for tours.

When we moved to Bacolod and all of us started going to school, we barely had trips unless our relatives from the US would come home. It was something we haven’t done together as a family until my siblings and I started working. We had our own trips but not as a family

Every time I go to some nice place, I always wish that my family is with me and that I could share such memory with them. That’s why every time I go home to Bacolod, I always make sure that we go out of town and just enjoy family time. Sometimes, it’s not really the place anymore. It’s really being with them.

Early this year, my sister and I planned for a CDO trip. We booked the whole family for a flight to Cagayan de Oro last August without telling Papa and Mama first. We wanted to give them a treat at the same time be able to visit relatives of Papa’s side. And I must say, it was really worth all the expenses! 🙂 One of the best trips I had.

We all don’t know when we can really have the time with our families unless we want to be intentional about it. Because I live far from my family, I really make sure time with them is time well-spent. I’m looking forward for next year’s trip, maybe, when my brother comes home. Maybe visit Cebu and relatives of Mama’s side.

I’m thankful that God allows us to enjoy life to its fullest with people that we love the most. 🙂